DAILY GRAPHIC

"Low tariffs will affect operations...Says VRA official", is the banner headline story of the Graphic. The story says the Volta River Authority (VRA) has stressed that if the tariff for power supply remains low, its operations will grind to a halt, and has accordingly appealed to the government to expedite action on the establishment of the Utilities Regulatory Commission. The Graphic says the VRA cautioned that a situation of unreliable power supply will make investors lose confidence in the Authority and the expansion of power generation, which will in turn affect economic activities. According to the paper, Mr M.A.C. Addo, director of organisational services of the VRA said this during a tour of the Akosombo and Kpong generating stations by a team of VRA directors and managers on Tuesday. GRI

The Graphic reports that a number of residents in the Accra metropolis has welcomed the action of the police to rid the streets of all indisciplined behaviours. In a front page heading: Accra residents welcome crackdown", the Graphic says the residents are particularly happy about the clearing of hawkers who impede free movement of pedestrians and motorists as well as dealing drastically with recalcitrant and indisciplined motorists who flout traffic regulations with impunity. The paper says a number of people randomly sampled yesterday said until the exercise took off last Monday, acts of indiscipline on the roads in the metropolis were becoming alarming. GRI

Atotoal of 38,005 new born babies have so far been screened at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and six other urban health centres in Kumasi for early diagnosis of the sickle cell disease. This is lead story on the back page of the Graphic under the heading: "Sickle cell test for babies begins...38,000 so far tested". The story says 753 out of the babies tested positive for sickle cell. Six hundred out of those who tested positive have been enrolled at the sickle cell disease clinic set up at KATH under the Newborn Screening Project. The project, the paper reports, began in 1993 under the sponsorship of the National Institutes of Health in the United States, is being jointly executed by the KATH, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ministry of Health, University of Ghana, Legon and the University of Science and Technology. GRI